Urgent action needed now on services

SCOTLAND’S mental health services have failed to meet their targets for several years but the decline has been rapid since Covid. With increasing numbers of children and adults needing help, the pressure on NHS workers and services has become enormous. Politicians have been arguing the Scottish Government needs to invest and increase staffing levels and specialist beds to cope with the demand. Patients and their families complain they are not being heard as they attempt to deal with often traumatic situations. Often they are the ones who have to watch over their loved ones as their lives fall apart and to pick up the pieces when they self-harm or try to take their own lives. Many are unable to prevent the downward spiral which holistic mental health treatment would prevent. There are clearly systemic failures. Staff are under intolerable stress and we must have every sympathy for them. When a whistleblower from the service comes forward to bravely tell how they believe deaths have resulted from a “toxic” culture, the government needs to sit up and take notice. It does not matter whether someone has found themselves at A&E because of a drug-related mental breakdown or a personality disorder, all should be given the same compassion. The whistleblower’s claim that patients are taking their own lives within 24 hours of being refused admission at hospital is a damning indictment of our mental health system. But it is not a problem confined to one health board. Mental health services are in chaos across Scotland and it is essential something is done urgently. Avoidable deaths caused by a lack of resources need to stop now.